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PODCAST

How the Hell Did We Get Here?

Want to understand U.S. history better? This show will help anyone better comprehend the present condition of the United States" government, society, culture, economy and more by going back to the origins of the U.S., before it was even an independent country and exploring the fundamental aspects of U.S. history up to the present moment. The episodes chronologically examine different periods--Colonial, Revolutionary, Antebellum, Civil War/Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, Roaring 20s,

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All Episodes

24:56

The “Kids These Days” Lie: From Cicero to Gen Z

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/12/12

Older generations have been dragging “kids these days” for at least 2,000 years. From Cicero whining about Roman youth to boomers roasting Gen Z on TikTok, the script barely changes: lazy, entitled, soft, ruining the country.In this episode, I walk through how every major wave of change in American history – the Market Revolution, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, the Jazz Age, the 1960s, all the way up to millennials and Gen Z – turns into a moral panic about young people, instead of an honest

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26:03

How the Hell Did America Outgrow "Small Government"...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/12/04

America has tried the “tiny federal government” experiment before. After the War of 1812, Jefferson’s minimalist republic simply couldn’t handle a big-power world—so a new generation rebuilt the state.This episode traces how Calhoun, Clay, Jackson, Adams, and the Marshall Court turned a weak agrarian republic into a nationalist market power between 1815 and the early 1820s.America has tried “small government” in a big-power world before. After the War of 1812, Jefferson’s tiny federal state—low

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28:33

We Keep Crashing the Economy — Here’s Why

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/11/25

In this episode of Past Is Prologue, John looks at more than 200 years of American economic history to answer a deceptively simple question:Why does the United States keep crashing its own economy?Starting with the Panic of 1819 and running through 1837, 1873, 1893, the Great Depression, and the 2008 financial collapse, John shows how the same boom-and-bust pattern repeats with stunning consistency. Rather than treating each crisis as a fluke or “black swan,” he traces the underlying structural

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22:12

How the Hell Was America Dragged Into Capitalism?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/11/19

In this episode of How the Hell Did We Get Here?, John digs into Chapter 2 of Charles Sellers’ The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846 — a pivotal moment when the United States was pushed, pulled, and coerced into a radically new economic order. Rather than a smooth evolution into a “modern” market economy, Sellers shows a far more turbulent reality: political battles over surplus capital, state-driven development, forced restructuring of everyday life, and deep conflicts between the

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31:04

From Steam Engines to ChatGPT: How Tech Revolutions...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/11/12

In this episode of Past Is Prologue, John looks at what 250 years of American history can teach us about the rise of artificial intelligence.Rather than treating AI as a totally unprecedented rupture, John compares it to five earlier waves of technological and economic transformation:1. The Market Revolution of the early 1800s2. The First Industrial Revolution and the rise of wage labor3. The Second Industrial Revolution, corporate power, and the Progressive backlash4. Post–World War II

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29:21

What the Hell Did the Market Economy Undo in America?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/10/24

What did the United States look like before canals, factories, and cash wages rewired everyday life? In this episode, John explores Chapter 1 of Charles G. Sellers’s The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846, reconstructing a largely cashless “subsistence” order where independence meant owning land, bartering with neighbors, and avoiding debt. We trace why profit was suspect, how reciprocity bound communities, and why patriarchal households sat uneasily beside republican talk of

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23:34

The Manifesto: Why I Started How the Hell Did We Get...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/10/17

This episode is something different. After a year of tracing U.S. history from the pre-Columbian period through the War of 1812, I wanted to step back and talk aboutwhyI’m doing this — and what I think history can actually teach us about the world we’re living in now.In this manifesto, I lay out the purpose behindHow the Hell Did We Get Here?: to cut through the noise of hot takes and partisan shouting, and use history to make sense of the present. From Vietnam to Iraq, from Reconstruction to the

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31:46

Where the Hell Was America Headed in 1815?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/10/07

In this episode, John discusses the social, political and economic evolution of the United States from the late 1700s to the end of the War of 1812. John talks about the evolution of the U.S. from a limited democracy with a decidedly agricultural bent toward a bustling trade hub and nascent manufacturing sector with a huge middle class that starts to flex its political muscle. This episode serves as an explanatory bridge between how the high-minded and elite-controlled economic and political

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09:15

What's Coming Next

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/09/26

John gives everyone an update about what's been going on and what they can expect from the next season of How the Hell Did We Get Here?

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45:56

How the Hell Did the U.S. Escape the War of 1812?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/08/05

In this episode, John discusses how the War of 1812 continued and ultimately came to a conclusion. John talks about the campaigns of 1813 and the British offensives of 1814, how things continued to linger in a position of stalemate and how the U.S. managed to survive despite a serious financial crisis and the capital city of Washington D.C. being burned to the ground by the British. John covers the American triumphs at Fort McHenry and Lake Champlain, as well the resounding victory of the United

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47:38

Why the Hell Was the War of 1812 So Difficult?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/07/29

In this episode, John covers the first year of the War of 1812 and why it was such a struggle for the United States. John begins by talking about how the Madison Administration and the Congress prepared—or rather, did not—for the war against Great Britain. John discusses the state of the land and sea forces as the U.S. went to war, what Madison and Congress chose to do to prosecute the war and why they made the choices that they did. John goes on to break down the planned invasion of Canada in 1812,

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37:03

How the Hell Did the U.S. Go to War with Great...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/07/01

In this episode, John explains how it is that the United States, less than 30 years after fighting Great Britain to become and independent country, wound up fighting the British once again. John begins by discussing James Madison as a presidential figure: how he became president, what he wanted to achieve and how he differed from the first three presidents. John also breaks down the issues that Madison had to deal with during his term that didn’t involve Great Britain and France messing with

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01:05:44

Why the Hell am I Team Hamilton Rather Than Team...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/06/17

In this episode, John stacks up the lives and careers of two of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. John goes into a lot of detail about the endeavors and accomplishments that make both men the legendary historical heavyweights that they are. He talks about their impact on American governance, American economics, American culture, American religion and the trajectory of American society from independence onward. But John also deals with

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32:53

What the Hell was The Second Great Awakening?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/06/10

In this episode, John explores the mass religious movement in the United States referred to as The Second Great Awakening. John discusses the origin of this explosion of religious growth and diversification and why it was that it occurred in the aftermath of the American Revolution. John talks about how the movement defied expectations of the Founding Fathers, who anticipated a more secular society after the Revolution, and how it demonstrated another dichotomy between the elites and the “middling

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40:18

Why the Hell Did Slavery Expand in the U.S. After 1800?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/06/03

In this episode, John focuses on slavery in the United States in the years after the American Revolution. John investigates why it is that slavery did not die out, as most of the Founding Fathers expected it would in the 1780s and 1790s. John talks about the reasons why so many Americans believed that slavery was on its way out in America, not the least of which was the fact that slavery absolutely did not comport with the ideals on which the United States was founded as an independent country.John

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40:00

How the Hell Did Jefferson's Trade War Cause a...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/05/27

In this episode, John discusses the important events and decisions of Thomas Jefferson’s second term as the third U.S. President. John begins by talking about the Sally Hemings affair, which was actually brought to public attention in a very direct way for the first time about halfway through Jefferson’s first term. John explains how and why it was that Jefferson’s decades-long relationship with one of his slaves became a national story, why it matters when considering Jefferson’s legacy and how it

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47:15

What the Hell Have I Learned

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/05/21

In this episode, John reviews through what he has learned so far doing the show. John covers a variety of topics that he has gone into detail on in previous episodes, stretching all the way back to the very first How the Hell Did We Get Here. John starts out by talking about the Pre-Columbian period and the years between Columbus and the settlement of Jamestown, before discussing all the things he learned about the colonial period that he did not know before he started researching for the show,

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55:55

What the Hell Does the Judicial Branch Do?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/03/29

In this episode, John does a deep dive into the early years of the Judicial Branch of the federal government. John begins by explaining how courts, judges and lawyers were perceived by the colonists in the decades before the American Revolution and what role it was in society and in the colonial governments that these elements played. John then discusses the changes that Americans wanted to see in the judicial system upon achieving independence from Great Britain and how the rapid evolution of

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38:30

How the Hell Did Jefferson Buy Louisiana and Fight...

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/03/14

In this episode, John discusses the circumstances that allowed the Jefferson administration to complete the Louisiana Purchase from France. John explains how it was that France came to acquire Louisiana again and what it was that drove Napoleon to sell the territory to the U.S. less than five years after acquiring it. John also talks about the Lewis and Clark expedition and its importance to the foundation of an American presence in the middle of North America.John also goes through the Jefferson

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33:40

What the Hell Was Jeffersonian Democracy?

How the Hell Did We Get Here? ·

2025/03/07

In this episode, John dives into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, focusing specifically on his most important ideas and priorities as he took over from the Federalists as America’s third president. John discusses why Jefferson was such a monumental figure in American history, how he and his ideas came to dominate the first quarter century of the 1800s and how he saw his role in America’s “Empire of Liberty”. John talks about the Jeffersonians’ goals to shrink the size of the federal government,

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